Horse of a different color

[Pleasure Gaits]

Horse of a different color

Suicide campaign at heart of man's national trek
June 16, 2010 5:09 AM
By DENNIS GRUBAUGH
The Telegraph

BETHALTO - These days, Don Del Monte is never far from his trusted steed, Rico - nor is he far from the reason he rides him.

The 44-year-old former coal miner is on a cross-country mission to draw attention to teenage suicide, in honor of a beloved niece who took her own life in 2003 at the age of 18.

Del Monte's campaign, which he calls Saddle Up for Suicide and Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention, is drawing a lot of attention - mostly from his method of travel. On March 5, he put on his black cowboy hat, mounted his Tennessee walking horse stallion in Lexington, Ky., and set off on what he figures will be a yearlong, round trip to Los Angeles and back - a distance of more than 4,700 miles.

In California, he plans to meet with an author, Andy Behrman, who has written about his personal battle with bipolar disorder, an illness that the writer and the horseman have in common.

Between here and there, Del Monte is sharing stories about his family and listening to the plights of others, many of whom have asked him to stop long enough to speak at group meetings. He is glad to do so.

"Suicide is an epidemic, and it needs to be talked about. When kids come to them with a problem, parents need to listen," said Del Monte, who is single and has two grown sons, both of whom are in the U.S. Army.

He is riding for the benefit of the Kristin Brooks Hope Center and its primary program, the National Hopeline Network, which promotes the telephone hotline number, 1-800-SUICIDE. Any money he raises is going to the cause.

He rides in memory of Felicia Roberson of West Virginia, his sister's middle child, who shot herself to death for reasons the family never fully understood, he said.

The Telegraph interviewed Del Monte by cell phone Tuesday morning as he trotted along South Moreland Road after leaving Bloodstock Management, a horse farm owned by Bob and Lorraine Cunningham in Meadowbrook.

"I met (Bob) in Lexington last year at a horse sale," Del Monte said. "I told him what I was up to, and he told me that if I passed through the area, I would have a place to stay."

Del Monte's easygoing approach and Florida-born Southern drawl serve him well. He never knows for sure where he's camping from one night to the next, and he has met many people willing to accommodate him along the way.

"A lot of people have stopped and asked me if I needed a place," he said. "Or I'll stop and ask people if I can camp out on their property. It's kind of hard to say where you're going to end up when you're riding a horse. From here to the next 100 feet, while I'm talking to you, something could happen to the horse."

So far, his biggest headache has been the "immature" drivers who lay on the horn when they pass him, presenting the chance to spook his horse. Most people, though, have been wonderful.

One of his most interesting encounters occurred outside a store in Dale, Ind., when a woman customer asked him what he was doing.

"When I told her, she began crying, and I said, 'You've been affected by suicide, haven't you?'"

It turned out the woman's daughter had killed herself in February in Lexington, Ky. - the very city where Del Monte began his journey. Today, he carries the girl's photo with him, giving the mother some sense of comfort.

He added: "Things happen for a reason, they say."

He's averaging 15 to 30 miles a day when he's not stopped as part of his campaign. He can't ride on interstate highways, so most of his trek has been on state roads and side roads.

While in this area, he was taking advantage of the Mississippi River levee and hoped to be in St. Louis by nightfall.

He also rides light, carrying one extra pair of pants, a total of four shirts and four changes of underwear.

Weather (like the area experienced on Tuesday) presents challenges. He rides in rain but doesn't like lightning.

"I rode in lightning the other day," he said. "There wasn't anywhere to get cover. And I don't want to stand under a tree. I'm on a four-legged lightning rod, and it's got metal shoes on."

To donate or learn more about Del Monte's campaign, search for "Saddle up for Suicide Prevention" on the Internet.

To contact Del Monte while he's on his journey, call his cell phone at (410) 310-2616.

dgrubaugh@thetelegraph.com



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